The escalating crisis of soaring food prices and food insecurity is the result of a development model based on large-scale, export-orientated agriculture tied to international competition, self interest and stock market speculation. With 850 million people going hungry each day despite a huge surplus of food production, a reorientation towards local self-sufficiency founded upon the concept of ‘food sovereignty’ is urgently required.
The current food crisis is not a problem of production as we have been told, but a result of neo-liberal trade policies, which now serve as a catalyst to send
seeds and fertilisers to food-crisis-striken countries in the
South. By GRAIN.
As Africa grapples with the question of food
insecurity, biotechnology buffs seem to have an answer: genetically
modified crops that could feed a continent vulnerable to famine and
food deficits. But environmentalists warn of new dangers. Reported by Busani Bafana.
With intertwined food and financial systems, we stand to face a hungry planet and the threat of "financial Armageddon." However, rather than failed free-market policies, we can stabilize the planet by investing in local economies argues Annie Shattuck.
Unlike the crisis of
1970s stagflation that signalled the end for the Keynesian social-democratic
model, the food crisis of 2008 could be marked down in history for setting in
motion an opposite trend, writes Adam W. Parsons.
The first genetically modified food crop – Bt Brinjal – will soon be served up across India, carrying a toxin that is a thousand times more potent than what is used to kill insects. Spine chilling, isn’t it? By Devinder Sharma.
Reforming the economics of food production and supply would be
beneficial for a number of environmental and social problems, and a key issue is to understand the energy involved
in putting food on your plate, argues
Peter Baker.